Ant Farm Update #2: ant tragedy!
May 23rd, 2008
It’s with a heavy heart that I report the sad death of worker ant #010054, or as I called it, Mister Ant.
I’m worried now for the sake of my colony. They don’t work, they don’t eat, it’s like having a group of teenagers in my house. Specifically, the gel forms their food source, and if they’re not burrowing, they’re not eating. I decided to offer them a little sugar and water, in the hope they’d perk up. My ants are still trying to escape, but somewhat feebly – they keep falling off the walls of the formicarium. So add ennui to that list of teenager-like traits.
Perhaps previous comment authors are right, and I really do need a queen.
Entry Filed under: General
|
|
|
|
7 Comments
1. Ivan | May 23rd, 2008 at 6:57 pm
You don’t need a queen. In fact, if you were to order a batch of ants from the company (as I did) you would not receive a queen. The ants work on building their colony awaiting the arrival of their future queen. I have no idea why you are having trouble, beyond the fact that your wild ants have known freedom, and the prospect of living in this new environment is simply too much for them. The long for freedom. The lab ants know no better, and simply slave away in their gelatinous prison.
2. Ryan Somma | May 24th, 2008 at 12:49 am
My ants acted the same way, no tunneling, just spent their day trying to escape. My ants came from the company too. I even followed the instructions about putting the farm in a closet for a few days to get them tunnelling, but no good. I don’t know what the successful ant-farmers are doing differently. : )
3. HM8 | May 24th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Whether you need a queen or not, I think ordering a batch of ants would give you better results than ants from your backyard.
4. Buck | June 1st, 2008 at 6:52 am
Any chance I’d be able to make that gel myself?
5. bill | July 30th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
hi guys, my name is bill and i am from Greece, I ordered one of these ant farms and after an anticipating week i got it. at first i took some small ants from my balcony and put them in the gel they didnt do anithing just trying to escape, then i got some larger ants from the country side 2 times biger but again NOTHING :-( i tryed to put in the farm a fly so that will motivate them to dig and hide it but nothing… I runed out of ideas ….
6. Michael | October 9th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
May I suggest putting the ants under the gel..instead of under it… it may give the incentive to dig their way out to safety…^^
What I’ve heard about ants is the fact that each has different duties within the colony.. to say this is true or not I am not 100% sure… yet, if this is true maybe you have a type of ant that doesn’t normally form the colony but searches for food.
7. Jen | March 31st, 2009 at 11:59 pm
i am having an ant farm. but it is just a project i think it glows in the dark ooooooooo ooooooooo ooooooo
Trackback this post